Investors Should Be Encouraged By Aperam's (AMS:APAM) Returns On Capital

If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Aperam's (AMS:APAM) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Aperam is:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.27 = €1.2b ÷ (€5.2b - €741m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2022).

Thus, Aperam has an ROCE of 27%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Metals and Mining industry average of 13%.

Check out our latest analysis for Aperam

In the above chart we have measured Aperam's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Aperam.

The Trend Of ROCE

The trends we've noticed at Aperam are quite reassuring. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 27%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 41%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

The Bottom Line On Aperam's ROCE

In summary, it's great to see that Aperam can compound returns by consistently reinvesting capital at increasing rates of return, because these are some of the key ingredients of those highly sought after multi-baggers. Given the stock has declined 11% in the last five years, this could be a good investment if the valuation and other metrics are also appealing. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation.

Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Aperam (of which 1 is concerning!) that you should know about.

Aperam is not the only stock earning high returns. If you'd like to see more, check out our free list of companies earning high returns on equity with solid fundamentals.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.